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Inside Kingdom - Our MD makes it into the papers!

Kingdom has been making big noises for a number of years now and seen phenomenal growth and success within a very competitive market place. Our achievements lead to a recent newspaper wishing to interview and profile our normally very private MD - article extract below: -

Article - Liverpool Daily Post

by Alex Turner

TERRY BARTON has spent his whole working life in various parts of the crime prevention and punishment sector.

He started out in the police before completing a law degree and training to be a solicitor while still with the force. But then he decided that it was not for him.

“When I finished my degree, I realised there was a big world outside the police,” he said. “I embarked on a career as a solicitor, but I realised that I didn’t want to be a solicitor.

“I looked around for options and at that moment in time I ran in to someone I used to know who ran a business fairly locally and they were looking for some security advice.

“When I went down, I realised they needed a security guard on site and not just cameras. They asked me for a recommendation.

“I knew nobody, I was at a loose end, so I did it. That’s how I started.”

That was Barton’s first foray into running his own business, which lasted for two years before it merged with another local company. “We grew it by 2½ times while I was there,” he said. “The experience I had, which at the time wasn’t to my liking, was part of the overall learning curve of this industry and business as a whole.

“It taught me a lot and some of those lessons have never left me. I was there for three years, then I left and started again by myself and set up Kingdom Security in 1993. In doing that, I bought out a tiny company in Rainford which had seven guards.

“It was a risk and a gamble but I always work on gut instinct so I went for it. I am very proud of Kingdom Security and our achievements – it's a hard industry and bloody hard work but rewards come with hard work.”

The company has grown rapidly and now employs more than 1,000 people undertaking 1.9m guarding hours a year.

It went on the acquisition trail this summer, taking over FSG Security, Guardian Security and Firewalker Events. These deals have added some great clients.

Barton said: “I have got a definite entrepreneurial spirit. It drives me on. I get maximum enjoyment from it and looking at where we are and where we will be. There’s lots of growth yet within the company. “The business is well-established and I have an fantastic, industrious team around me"

He said: “We cover the UK with lots and lots of new projects on the boil which are extremely exciting and will hopefully be unveiled very soon"

His confidence in both the firm’s integrity and in its financial position means Barton believes Kingdom is well-placed to be part of the consolidation process in the industry.

He said: “We have always run things tight but professionally, we have been financially astute, been very focussed, driven, lucky and all have a passion to always "get it right" that gives us a great future"!

May 2010 Newsletter,News,

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Established in 1993 and operating nationally, commercial and service strength supported with organic and acquisition growth has seen Kingdom become one of the largest independently owned companies in the UK within their areas of service expertise.

Kingdom successfully manage thousands of service personnel to the highest standard specialising in security, cleaning and environmental protection. Our national network of regional support offices manage thousands of service personnel to the highest standard, benchmarked by all the major UK quality accreditation bodies.